Campaign calls to rescue starving lions in Sudan zoo

Everyone with a heart has expressed outrage after gut-wrenching photographs and reports of sick and starving in Sudan went viral on social media.

The five lions reportedly are being held at a zoo in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

Already, online campaigns have been started to save the big cats that are reportedly being held in cages at Al-Qureshi Park.

Media reports on Wednesday said one lion died on Monday. Reports also say they have barely eaten in weeks, they're skeletal and their protruding ribs can be counted.

Heartbreaking images from Khartoum show the five lions with skin hanging from their bones in a clear sign of the zoo’s inability to feed the creatures amid a dire shortage of food and medicine.

On Wednesday, the Kenya Wildlife Service said it had no mandate over the condition of wildlife in other countries.

The East African Wildlife Society has joined the campaign to rescue the lions.

"Heartbreaking images from Al-Qureshi Park in the country’s capital city of Khartoum show the five lions with skin hanging from their bones in a clear sign of the zoo’s inability to feed the creatures amid a dire shortage of food and medicine," the East African Wildlife Society (EAWLS)said.

EAWL is a Nairobi-based conservation organisation that acts as the voice of conservation in East Africa.

"Time is of the essence. Already, a lioness has died due to negligence and lack of care. Join the online campaign to help save these malnourished and sick African lions by sharing this post using #SudanAnimalRescue. Let's bring these majestic cats back home," EAWLS said.

The lioness, according to media reports, had received intravenous fluids for several days.

In Kenya, the population of lions is estimated to be less than 2,000.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says there were 2,749 lions in 2002. However, their population declined to 2,280 by 2004, and then to 1,970 in 2008. 

The lion population in Africa in 1900 was about one million. Fifty years later, it had declined to 500,000. In 1975, the continent had 200,000 lions, but in 1990 there were just 100,000.

IUCN is an international organisation working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

Often seen as a symbol of the continent’s wildlife, the conservation status of the big cat is giving cause for serious concern.

It was classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2004 due to a continuing decline in population.

In West Africa, lions number fewer than 1,500 and meet the criteria for regionally Endangered.

The IUCN cites some of the threats facing the big cat as residential and commercial development, housing and urban areas, agriculture, livestock farming and ranching.

Other threats include hunting and trapping, logging, human intrusions and disturbance, war, civil unrest and military exercises.

Invasive and other problematic species, genes and diseases and pollution as a result of agricultural and forestry effluents are other threats.